A Friendship That Will Never End
by J.J. Blue
Summary: The 24th of December 1998 in GenSoKai... [Betaed]


**Title: "A Friendship That Will Never End"**  
**Author: J.J.**  
**Warning:** It's **BASED ON THE MANGA** and it's placed just after the **'Kyoto Chapter'**. It contains some Japanese words (the Dictionary is at the bottom), mentions of a suicide attempt, probably some OOC, a bit of sappiness...  
**Notes:** This work is based on the manga, more precisely on the **'Tsuzuki and Hisoka's Shikigami Series'** and it talks about Tsuzuki's Shikigami. However I've made theories about some Shikigami's personality and which types they are (in this fic I considered Tenko a water type, Rikugo and Tenku Earth type, Daiin a Fire type and Kouchin and Taimo Wind type) since in the manga isn't said. Only Matsushita Sensei knows the truth about them and I hope she will share it with us soon.  
**Disclaimer:**  
**"Yami no Matsuei"** belong to Matsushita Yoko. I'm merely using her characters because I love them... especially Touda, Tsuzuki and Hisoka...  
Ehy, Do I own something here? Oh yes, I own the plot and a sensible heart which would surely break if you give me harsh reviews... so please be honest but nice ok?  
**Thanks:** To **Cloudednine** for betaing this! Thank you a lot!  
**Summary:** _The 24th of December 1998 in GenSoKai..._

* * *

**_"Count on me through thick and thin  
A friendship that will never end  
When you are weak I will be strong  
Helping you to carry on  
Call on me, I will be there  
Don't be afraid  
Please believe me when I say  
Count on..."  
(Whitney Houston - "Count on me")_**

* * *

**1998 December 24th - GenSoKai**

The day was disturbingly cold but the sun was shining, the sky was blue and there was only a slight breeze. From one of the many windows in Tenku-Kyuu Tenko, SoRyu's youngest child, looked up at the sky. The little blue haired girl smiled happily to herself. The weather was good. Perfect for Tsuzuki-chan's visit. On second thoughts she wondered if maybe Tsuzuki-chan would have preferred if they had snow but she soon dismissed that idea. Tsuzuki-chan knew how to appreciate sunny days as well. She carefully closed the window and left her room, happily singing one of the Christmas songs Tsuzuki-chan taught her.(1) They were going to have one of those Christmas Eve parties Tsuzuki-chan liked so much that evening and everything was going to be fine. She knew something bad had happened during fall but no one had wanted to explain to her what. Of course she had managed to pick up bits and pieces of the conversations which took place between the other ShinSho and had an idea of what it was, but she hadn't grasped the whole complexity of the situation, only that something went seriously wrong and that her father, Suzaku-neesan and Touda-san had been involved in it.(2) After that terrible fall no Shikigami had been summoned by Tsuzuki and each of them was... tense. Worried. In her naivety Tenko was thinking that the party would solve everything. After all, they were Tsuzuki-chan's Shikigami, his best friends, and every time he had been in GenSoKai things had always improved. There was no reason why it shouldn't happen this time either.

* * *

For a second SoRyu smiled slightly hearing Tenko's young voice singing one of those happy ningen tunes Tsuzuki had taught her then frowned at the thought of his master. He really didn't understand what was wrong with the boy lately. Tsuzuki had faced death other times and...

SoRyu realized he had been spacing out while giving instructions to the maid for the evening celebration. He frowned then decided he would concentrate on Tsuzuki and the little chat he was planning to have with him later. After apologizing for the interruption, he finished speaking with the maid and dismissed her, then picked up his cup of tea and blew on it before sipping it slowly, savouring its scented aroma.

"You're behaving like you're thinking Tsuzuki-chan will come to visit today, So-chan," Daiin, the pot-like Shikigami observed from his position up on a chair. SoRyu spared him a glare, then returned at his tea. He had never liked being called _'So-chan'_. It was a pet name completely inappropriate for the KouRyu who had been left in charge of supervising GenSoKai by the KouTei KouRyu.

"Have you considered that Tsuzuki could not come?" Daiin insisted. SoRyu frowned. Yes, he had considered it, but he refused to acknowledge the idea. Tsuzuki had **_always_** come to spend Christmas in GenSoKai. **HE** had brought Christmas, that strange ningen celebration, into GenSoKai so why shouldn't he come? What could be more important to him than to spend that festivity he was so fond of with his Shikigami? Especially considering that his visits had been definitely lacking recently. Yet, the idea that Tsuzuki might not come refused to leave his mind as a scary shadow, a silent blame of his incapacity to be of some help when...

"Why shouldn't he come?" he asked in an almost challenging tone, daring the Shikigami to make an issue of it. Daiin just shrugged or rather gave the pot's equivalent of it.

"He could have work to do, maybe?" the Shikigami offered. SoRyu dismissed the suggestion with a wave of his hand.

"On Christmas? Don't be ridiculous." Not that there were many chances to have a serious conversation with a pot...

"Last Christmas Tsuzuki didn't come either," Taimo reminded him, choosing to join the discussion. SoRyu's bad mood increased. It was easy to forget the presence of Taimo. The faceless Shikigami didn't talk much but when she did she usually stated the truth.(3)

"He came. He was just... late."

Three days late. And to be honest Tsuzuki had chosen to be late because he said _'he had wanted to spend that Christmas with his partner'_. SoRyu had judged it a waste of time. Tsuzuki changed partners faster than other people changed shoes. What was the purpose of spending time with someone who would surely leave him within a few days? Even if, much to SoRyu's annoyance, he had to admit Tsuzuki's actual partner hadn't left. Yet.

Anyway, surely this year Tsuzuki would spend Christmas with his Shikigami. The boy hadn't proved himself useful at all in the whole Kyoto mess so why Tsuzuki would spend time with him when he could be with his Shikigami who... SoRyu mentally groaned. They also had been _'oh so helpful'_ last time they had been summoned! He mentally cursed at Suzaku, Touda and even at himself. They were three of the ShinSho, three of the most powerful Shikigami in the whole of GenSoKai, and they had been even less useful than that Shinigami child!

"He'll come. He had promised he would warn **ME** next time he would plan to come later. I made **SURE** he would remember, and he hasn't warned yet so he'll have to come."

Of course there was to consider that Tsuzuki could have forget the whole discussion, it wasn't the first time Tsuzuki forgot something, or Tsuzuki could be disappointed in them... no, this would make no sense. They did nothing wrong and Tsuzuki wasn't the type who would...

"You almost sound like you're trying to persuade yourself," Genbu commented and few seconds after he was whacked by a maid he was bothering. The oldest Shikigami whined about no one paying respect to their elders while SoRyu covered his eyes with his hand, groaning at the old Shikigami's inappropriate behaviour.

"The boy will come. And I'll have with him a nice discussion about proper orders to give to Shikigami and irresponsible behaviour," he muttered.

"You won't change Tsuzuki's mind, you know," Genbu warned him coming closer "You'd do better to move over. What has been, has been. You can't change the past so why worry about it? The boy's doing fine now, isn't he?"

"You Earth Shikigami are so... passive! We can't risk this happening again! Someone should teach Tsuzuki how he should act before he gets himself in the same trouble again. If he had summoned someone more helpful than that snake the whole mess wouldn't have taken place. Or are you going to tell me you don't care if Tsuzuki lives or die?"

SoRyu's irritation increased as he remembered his confrontation with Touda after the Shikigami had returned from ChiJou. All he had got from him was a _'Tsuzuki asked me to do so'_ and nothing else. No apology, no regret, no explanations. Of course SoRyu was the first to support the idea of obeying to a master's order and not behaving like Suzaku but... but killing Tsuzuki just because he ordered it in a moment of temporal confusion was out of question! Yet the Fire Shikigami could see nothing wrong with it.

SoRyu never really liked dealing with Touda, not even before his betrayal, and he had never approved of Tsuzuki's idea to free him even if, knowing Tsuzuki, he should have expected it. He had nothing personal toward Touda; it was just that, to him, the fire Shikigami had meant trouble from the first day SoRyu laid eyes on him. He hadn't been surprised about Touda's actions during the war and had breathed in relief when the Shikigami had been condemned to eternal imprisonment. When Touda had been let out of his prison Suzaku had yelled at him claiming that Touda would end up killing Tsuzuki but SoRyu doubted that, at the time, she knew how close she had been to the truth. SoRyu's attempts to keep that particular Shikigami and Tsuzuki divided hadn't worked at all. It was easier to change the course of a river than stop Tsuzuki from being friends with someone.

And, after what had happened, SoRyu still couldn't do anything against Touda, since the Shikigami had simply obeyed a direct order from his master. That, of course, wasn't stopping him from turning a blind eye every time Suzaku attempted to slice Touda into bits. Should someone ask him about it he would answer it was a private matter between Fire Shikigami and, as long as they were taking care of it out of Tenku-Kyuu, he had no plans to interfere. After all Fire Shikigami were well known for their impulsive behaviour and settling almost all of their problems with a fight.

To be honest Touda had calmed down a bit after his imprisonment but before it...

"You can't force Tsuzuki to follow your wishes SoRyu," Taimo's bitter words interrupted his thoughts. She didn't have to like it even if what she said was the truth.

"Yes So-chan, no matter what you say to him and what he answers, should this happen again he will have to face it alone. You won't be there to tell him what to do and he'll do as he prefers again," Daiin added, sounding frustrated. He may be only a pot but he didn't like the idea of staying still and watching while his master headed towards death. Genbu's expression just saddened for a moment. It didn't matter that he had had ages to learn to take things as they came; to lose Tsuzuki was an option he too didn't like to consider, as inevitable as it could be. SoRyu frowned. Never again he would risk loosing his precious master, the man whose smile could bright even the darkest day. Never again. He **HAD** to make sure that next time Tsuzuki would make the right choice.

* * *

While SoRyu was planning what to say to Tsuzuki in his next endless, likely useless lecture Touda silently entered in the computer room. Byakko heard him anyway.

"Neesan has been hunting you again, hasn't she?" he asked him in an amused tone, raising his head from his work. The tiger didn't approve Suzaku's actions but didn't take them seriously either. After all, there were few things Wind Shikigami took seriously.

Touda just shrugged. He didn't care about Suzaku's recently aggressive mood. It was almost an interesting distraction after being completely ignored for so long. And it was better than Tenku-oji's taunting, which was exponentially increased after Tsuzuki summoned him. The palace Shikigami was starting to get repetitive. Well, not that he wasn't before but now...

Anyway he sat at his place and started his work like he always did, without bothering to spend a word over the topic. Byakko groaned. To get Touda to make conversation was an almost impossible task, unless your name was Tsuzuki Asato, of course.

"She shouldn't have done it anyway. Tsuzuki could be here any moment and he wouldn't be pleased to find you two bitching," the tiger Shikigami muttered, returning to his own work.

"I wasn't _'bitching'_, she did no damage and Tsuzuki isn't going to come so I don't see what the problem is," Touda stated without even raising his gaze from his computer screen. Byakko immediately stopped typing and so did Kijin. Rikugo simply groaned. Tact just wasn't in Touda's dictionary but did he have to be so direct in telling the kids Tsuzuki-san wasn't going to come?

"What do you mean with _'Tsuzuki isn't going to come'_? Of course he is, it's Christmas, isn't it? He always comes for Christmas!" Byakko exclaimed. He wanted Tsuzuki to come. He missed him so badly! Beside, the whole Kyoto matter had confused him a lot. Why hadn't Tsuzuki summoned him? Why did he summon Touda? Why did he ask Touda to...

"He is not going to come," the Shikigami repeated emotionlessly "He's going to spend this Christmas with his Shinigami partner like he did last year or had you already forgotten it?"

Kijin lowered his gaze back to his keyboard sadly. He missed his master too and so did his little sister Tenko. She had been rambling about Tsuzuki-san's visit all the month. She was going to be so sad when he wouldn't show up. Kijin knew what happened in ChiJou even if not in detail. He wasn't sure he understood. The whole thing scared and confused him and made him feel... useless. He preferred to not think at it. His father told him he would make sure it wouldn't happen again so Kijin was determined to consider the Kyoto incident nothing more than an incident. Yet, knowing Tsuzuki-san would not come...

"But... but..." Byakko almost whined. "How can you be so sure?" he inquired. Touda couldn't be sure. Byakko had been Tsuzuki's first Shikigami and his first summon. He was the closest to their common master not Touda. Touda couldn't know what their master would do.

"I know," Touda stated coldly without even bothering to explain his reasons, as if Tsuzuki's absence that Christmas meant nothing to him.

"But you don't know for sure!" Byakko insisted angrily, leaving his place and moving toward him.

"Byakko," Rikugo called before the tiger started a fight inside Tenku-Kyuu. **THAT** would have been something Kijin's father would definitely not like. SoRyu, at times, could be so... "Tsuzuki-san will not come. Even my divination said so." Of course Rikugo too had considered that Tsuzuki-san could not come but he had wanted to be sure so he had checked the only way he knew how, hoping to be wrong. He hadn't been. He hadn't liked it but he too was used to taking things as they came so he wasn't complaining much. Externally. "Beside you too know Tsuzuki-san. He wouldn't let his partner spent Christmas alone. And considering how helpful we all were to him this fall..."

Rikugo also should have spent some time learning the meaning of tact but he had never realized it.

"But..." Byakko's head lowered. If Rikugo's divination said so there wasn't much to add. Okay, he should have known Tsuzuki couldn't leave poor Hisoka all alone for Christmas but... but he was leaving **THEM** alone! Didn't he care for them anymore? Was he mad at them because they hadn't been able to help him when he had likely desperately needed help? He sighed and silently slid out of the room. SoRyu was probably going to complain about it later, Christmas wasn't a Shikigami's holiday and Byakko wasn't authorized to slack off during it, but he didn't care. He needed a place to sulk in peace.

"You had to tell him Tsuzuki-san wouldn't come, hadn't you?" Rikugo said as soon as Byakko was out of the room. Touda didn't pay him attention. Rikugo frowned. He didn't like to be ignored. "I do understand with your background you can not care about having your master around or not, but you could at least try to understand Byakko's feelings."

If Tsuzuki had been present he probably wouldn't have appreciated Rikugo talking this way to Touda but Tsuzuki wasn't there and even if he had been... well the Sensei Jyutushi was used to talking freely. Touda anyway merely snorted.

"He would have found out anyway and he's old enough to face the truth. Kijin's younger and he's not whining like Byakko's probably doing right now."

Kijin felt an inch of odd embarrassment at what he knew was the closest thing to praise Touda had ever said to him. He had been nervous when he had started working with Touda in the computer room but with time he... got used to it. The Fire Shikigami knew his work well, rarely spoke and never bothered him. Kijin had come to almost doubt he was the same person who burned friends and foes alike in the 4th Great War. Yet Byakko was one of his closest friends so he felt it was his duty to speak in his defence.

"Byakko is very close to Tsuzuki-san. He was his first Shikigami after all. It's normal for him to be sad at Tsuzuki-san's absence. And, if I am honest, I miss Tsuzuki-san too, even if I understand that his duty is to keep his partner company."

Duty. Water Shikigami were too _'duty obsessed'_ in Touda's opinion. Rikugo humped but there wasn't really much to add. The trio silently continued to work.

* * *

Some hours later Byakko, still in a sulking mood, had reached Tsuzuki's room, or better the room Tenku-oji reserved for Tsuzuki when the Shinigami was in GenSoKai, a room he knew Tsuzuki kept always open to his Shikigami so they were free to come and go in it anytime. The Shikigami sometimes went there when they missed him. Right now, thanks to Tenku-oji, it was in perfect order, a clear sign that its owner was not in the palace. Byakko knew Tsuzuki needed only few minutes to convert the carefully ordered room in something which more resembled a battleground, clothes, sweets, spell books and Tenko's toys placed almost everywhere. The first time he saw how Tsuzuki could reduce a room he had been shocked. Later he had come to like it. A messy room suited Tsuzuki more than that cold manifestation of order and perfection than it was now.

He shouldn't have come here, he knew he would feel even more depressed but the place still held Tsuzuki's scent and just inhaling it made him feel closer to his master. His master who wasn't going to come.

It was official now.

The Tengu came to give a message to SoRyu few minutes ago, a message from Tsuzuki in which he informed them he wasn't going to come. Not for Christmas, not for the New Year. He wasn't going to come. He was busy with work or so he said.

Nothing else.

Not even a _'Merry Christmas guys, have fun even if I'm not there!'_.

Could it be that Tsuzuki was really mad at them? At Suzaku for disobeying him? At SoRyu for allowing the albino freak to kidnap him? At them in general for being, as Rikugo put it while the whole ordeal had taken place, _'as useful as an umbrella in a sunny day, a coat in August, a ship in a desert'_?

He sighed.

Why hadn't Tsuzuki summoned him? Had he lost faith in him? He sat on Tsuzuki's bed wondering about their future. Would he summon them again? Him again? Or had he lost faith in them?

He was still sitting there, wondering, when Kouchin joined him.

"Byakko-sama? What's wrong? What are you doing here?" she asked in her soft, musical voice.

"Kouchin? Ah, I, nothing, I was just..." he stopped babbling and turned serious. "Did you hear the news? It's official now, Tsuzuki isn't going to come."

"Yes Byakko-sama, I've heard," she answered moving silently toward the curtains and closing them. Tenku-oji could have taken care of it but Kouchin preferred to do it herself. She liked to take care of her master's things. There was so little she could do for him. Tsuzuki-san was a wonderful master but he counted twelve Shikigami under his command and, well, she wasn't the most powerful of them so she could understand if he preferred to use others.

It could have been worse.

Touda had been summoned only once and his master's order had been... She shook her head forcing herself to forget it. Tsuzuki-san was well now, that was only a bad memory.

"I miss him. I understand he has duties and all but... I miss him."

"Everyone does Byakko-sama," Kouchin assured him. There wasn't a Shikigami who, after knowing Tsuzuki, could not miss him. That's why she couldn't understand how her master could have felt such desperation. Everyone adored him. Why hadn't Tsuzuki seen it?

"Touda knew even before it became official. Rikugo knew also but he kind of cheated since he asked his oracle or the stars or something..." Kouchin nodded. It was to be expected that a Sensei Jyutushi would know things before they happened.

"I'm sure Tsuzuki-san is missing us too." There was little doubt about it. It was clearly written on the Shinigami's face every time he came in GenSoKai how much he missed his Shikigami when they weren't around him.

"Are you? I... don't know anymore. I was thinking... I understood Tsuzuki better than anyone else and yet... after what happened in Kyoto... And he didn't even summon me. Did he think I couldn't help him? Am I... useless to him now?"

There was nothing worse for a Shikigami than being useless to his master. Kouchin sat near the white tiger and placed a gentle hand on his back.

"Byakko-sama... I'm sure Tsuzuki-san still cares a lot for you... Kyoto... was an unfortunate incident... and he probably was so upset he didn't even realize what he was doing when he summoned Touda. I'm sure... I'm sure..." A sob escaped from the female Shikigami. She too had been shocked by the events and even if Wind Shikigami tended to take things lightly and forget about trouble fast the whole mess had been too big, too horrible to forget easily. To lose Tsuzuki, their nice, gentle, caring master... was a fear which still haunted her dreams. Byakko turned his gaze on her.

"I'm sorry Kouchin. I was so... lost in my own troubles I forgot you care for Tsuzuki too. I've been an egotist. You... you're... very good at comforting people Kouchin. Tsuzuki should have summoned you." The two Shikigami tentatively smiled at each other but there was no real happiness in their smiles, Tsuzuki's suicide attempt too recent to be forgotten.

* * *

In the meantime Suzaku was systematically trashing her own apartment repeating to herself she was going to rip Touda into pieces, she would make sure of it. How dare that stupid snake attempt to take her master's life? Tsuzuki was everything to her, how dare Touda to attempt to kill him? It didn't matter that, in the end, Tsuzuki survived, Touda had attempted to hurt him!

She threw the last piece of furniture against the wall, watching it break into a million pieces as Tsuzuki's soul did when she killed that ningen girl in an attempt to protect him.

Ah! Some protection she had offered him!

Touda had attempted to kill Tsuzuki but she had been the one who had truly shattered his soul.

And why had this happened?

Because she disobeyed him. Sure, she had only wanted to help him, to take care of him, to protect him. Tsuzuki was her precious master and there was no one else Suzaku loved more. But in the end she had been the one who hurt him the most. She had been the one who broke him, betrayed his trust. And now Tsuzuki wasn't going to come in GenSoKai for Christmas and maybe he would never come again and maybe he would never summon her again and she would never, never have the chance to apologize to him, to tell him how sorry she was, how much she loved him...

With a sob Suzaku let herself fell on the ground and lay there, crying. Desperately.

* * *

It was about dinnertime when Touda finally finished inserting the last report on the wormholes into the computer. He left the room as silently as he had entered and went to search for some peace on Tenku-Kyuu's roof. He didn't feel like interacting with others. Not that he usually looked forward to the other Shikigami's company but today, more than any other day he preferred to be alone.

SoRyu was in a horrible mood. Tsuzuki's message didn't please him at all. The dragon had stubbornly decided the Christmas party would take place anyway, but everyone knew that without Tsuzuki it just... wasn't going to be the same. Christmas meant nothing to Shikigami. It was Tsuzuki who made it special. To celebrate it without him was senseless but he couldn't blame Tsuzuki for not coming.

Who would come in GenSoKai and sit for hours listening to SoRyu's endless lecture about why one should not summon a criminal Shikigami to ask him to burn you to death and instead survive trapped in a life that gave you nothing but pain? SoRyu's lectures were so stupid and deadly boring than even Touda's black flames could hardly compare. Beside the other Shikigami were... a mess as well, utterly confused by Tsuzuki's behaviour. None of them had ever faced pain, desperation, abandonment or loneliness. They couldn't understand what Tsuzuki felt back in Kyoto. They were... pampered brats compared to the Shinigami. None of them could understand. No one could understand.

Except him.

He closed his eyes remembering just for a second how devastated, how desperate Tsuzuki had been and then immediately opened them. On a second thoughts he didn't want to remember. He never wanted to see Tsuzuki in that state, a state he knew first hand far too well. They couldn't understand. They couldn't understand he couldn't let Tsuzuki remain a prisoner of the pain of that life.

Those spoiled brats wanted him to live. To live and be their toy. Couldn't they see how it pained him to live?

No, they couldn't, in the same way they didn't realize how much it had pained him to... to do what he did.

Silver stars shined up in the dark sky. They had been shining like that last year too. Tsuzuki had come that year, even if he had come later. He could remember sitting there, observing his master as he gazed at the stars, that strange, unusual master who was the only one who even cared for him. If he closed his eyes he could remember Tsuzuki's happy chattering, those hugs he insisted on giving to anyone and his voice as he said he cared for Touda, he would always care for him no matter what. Tsuzuki would always care for him as he cared for the other Shikigami, Shinigami and assorted guys he met. He would always trust Touda, care for him, take care of him. Exactly as he would do with the others. His past had no meaning to Tsuzuki. For the Shinigami he was a friend and Tsuzuki always cared for his friends. So it was natural he also cared for the Shinigami boy that was now his partner. He had been surprised that Tsuzuki had allowed the boy to stay with him for so long. His master had changed partners many times. Some had been transferred by that stupid Enma himself, some, like that cowardly, egoistical jerk that was the Kageshi(4), had asked to be transferred, some had been just temporal partners, some had died. After a while Tsuzuki had decided he couldn't stand it. Getting attached to someone and then losing him or her a little while later. So he purposely took care of having them around the shortest time possible. This way he wouldn't risk causing them misfortune or losing them. He usually subtly persuaded them all to ask for reassignment. They were still close enough and safe from him. He didn't need a stable partner or so he used to say.

Touda knew better. Touda knew Tsuzuki hated to be alone, Tsuzuki himself had said so in one of those long nights in which a quiet sleep is an utopia one didn't dare to dream of. He could understand his master's wish to not have anyone too close. To Tsuzuki, who was convinced he brought misfortune to everyone he loved, the burden of having to daily take care of someone was too heavy. Kyushu was often called a _'quiet territory'_ but what Kyushu didn't have in quantity it had in quality. That damned little corner of Japan seemed to attract Akuma and Youkai like honey attracted flies.

Yet Tsuzuki allowed the boy to stay. Surprising considering Tsuzuki told him he had the chance to have him reassigned almost immediately and after a quite messy case. Tsuzuki said the boy needed someone... who would take care of him. Oh, not officially of course because it seemed the boy was pretty proud but... Well the kid had something that convinced Tsuzuki that he couldn't leave him alone even if Tsuzuki didn't believe the boy wouldn't stay with him for long.

Yet not even the boy asked for reassignment.

Many stronger, older Shinigami hadn't last long facing the things Tsuzuki faced, even more than facing Tsuzuki's apparently irresponsible behaviour. Touda didn't know what to think of the kid. The boy had run into his flames and hung to Tsuzuki but that didn't say much to him. So the boy was attached to Tsuzuki too.

Well, who wasn't? Who could not get attached to him?

He crossed his arms under his head staring at the sky without really seeing it, uncaring of the cold air. Should Tsuzuki have been there he probably would have chattered endlessly about apple pies or the beauty of starry nights or worried about him, claiming he could get a cold. An almost amusing idea. He had attempted to explain to his master that Fire Shikigami did not have such problems but with no real success. Beside it was... nice to have Tsuzuki worrying over him.

But Tsuzuki wasn't there. He was with his partner and Touda could only hope the brat understood how lucky he was to be free to enjoy Tsuzuki's company daily.

* * *

Dinner had been a silent business in Tenku-Kyuu. No one had anything to say, not even a word of appreciation for the wonderful food placed in front of them. Tsuzuki wasn't there and so there was nothing to celebrate. SoRyu could have avoided forcing them to take part in such a depressing thing but Water Shikigami hardly ever change their mind, especially if they're Ryuzoku. This didn't stop Rikugo from giving SoRyu a piece of his mind anyway, causing a minor argument, and Touda from not showing up at all. As the whole _'party'_ finally met its end, each Shikigami was ready to retreat as fast as possible into their room and to not put their nose out of it no matter what.

That was the general idea, at least till Tenku-oji let the Tengu Kotaro and Kojiro enter in the room. The Shikigami scanned them hopefully but there was no track of Tsuzuki with them. Instead the duo was carrying an impressively big bag.

"What is the meaning of your visit?" the dragon lord asked, his bad mood quite evident even to a casual observer. Kotaro smiled as he announced that they had came to deliver something from Tsuzuki. SoRyu arched an eyebrow and asked them why they didn't give it to him in their previous visit. Little Tenko didn't waste her time on such useless details and carefully peered in the bag.

"Presents!" she announced happily to the other Shikigami "Tsuzuki-chan sent us present! He didn't forget us! He sent Christmas presents!"

Kojiro and Kotaro exchanged a smile.

"Tsuzuki-dono asked us to give you his presents late in the evening. He said it's a ningen custom to give them at midnight but he supposed everyone would be sleeping by then and he didn't want you to wait till tomorrow morning so..." Kotaro's speech had been mostly lost as the majority of the other Shikigami were busy examining their presents like little children would have done. SoRyu would have lectured them, if he hadn't also been curious to see what Tsuzuki had sent him. So he opted for watching the scene carefully, keeping a serious expression while his children and the others raided the bag.

When Touda entered in the room, dragged mostly by the noise the Shikigami were making, the Tengu were already gone and many of the packets had already been unwrapped. Little Tenko was beaming at the doll Tsuzuki sent her, a handmade doll Tsuzuki created himself, which couldn't even remotely compare to the beautiful dolls the little Shikigami already possessed but that was filled with her master's love and care and for that was way more precious than her whole collection. Kouchin and Suzaku were carefully examining the biscuits Tsuzuki sent them, admiring the fantasy of their forms but not even daring to try one since they too were handmade.(5) Apparently Tsuzuki was more out of money than usual this year. SoRyu was looking almost happy. It didn't matter what he got, to him apparently it was enough that his master remembered about them. Byakko ran toward him and almost hugged him in his happiness, a hug that Touda carefully avoided. It was one matter to allow Tsuzuki to hug him and another to allow Byakko to do the same. The tiger Shikigami didn't take it badly and, in a blur, explained to him that Tsuzuki had sent presents as if this hadn't been obvious enough with all the Shikigami busy unwrapping packets or commenting on what they had found in them.

"There's a present for you too!" Byakko announced happily, grabbing Touda and attempting to drag him to find his present. Touda freed himself from the Shikigami's grip, reminded Byakko that he could walk without aid and marched towards a box with his name on it. Not that he needed a present from Tsuzuki or wanted one, and he had already told Tsuzuki that many, many times, but since apparently Tsuzuki wouldn't stop bothering to get him something he would take it no matter what. And if it was another of Tsuzuki's disgraced culinary experiments... well he would eat it even if he considered the Shinigami's cooking one of the most lethal poisons to be found in GenSoKai. No one else had a master who bothered himself making presents for his Shikigami so, just for Tsuzuki's sake, he was going to enjoy his own present no matter what. A present that Suzaku grabbed as soon as she saw Touda.

"Yeah, there's a present for you too from Tsuzuki. Not that you deserve it. Beside it's so light that I guess Tsuzuki probably forgot to put something in the box," she spat. Her eyes were still puffy from all the crying she did before but she wasn't going to waste this chance to yell at Touda. Byakko glanced from her to Touda nervously as the others immediately shut up. Suzaku and Touda's constant fighting hadn't gone unnoticed even if no one did anything to stop it. SoRyu's expression darkened and he seriously considered telling the Shikigami to solve their own problems out of the dining room.

"Give it back," Touda hissed. He didn't care if the pack was empty, Tsuzuki had sent it to him and so it was **HIS**.

"What if I don't?" Suzaku challenged. She hadn't expected Touda to react. Touda had long ago stopped responding to her challenges, the day Tsuzuki made clear he didn't like to see them fighting. So she was completely caught by surprise when he ripped the light box out of her grasp.

"Don't ever touch what's mine," he warned before turning to leave. She didn't like it and she was ready to start a fight but SoRyu and Byakko stopped her.

"Not inside the place!" SoRyu ordered.

"Let him slide for today, Neesan. Tsuzuki wouldn't like us fighting on Christmas Eve over his presents," Byakko begged.

Suzaku snorted and turned her back to the Shikigami she hated so much who, in the meantime, was leaving the room carrying away his box. Yeah, no reason to get herself worked up so much about Touda on the day Tsuzuki sent her a present.

* * *

After reaching his room Touda set the small, harmless, almost weightless pack on the table and ripped away the paper covering it, wondering why Tsuzuki bothered to wrap it in the first place with coloured paper he **KNEW** would be ripped away. An anonymous box stared at him from under the paper. He opened it too and blinked at its content. If Tsuzuki had planned to surprise him he definitely had outdone himself. He would never have expected to get... that. Oh well, at least it wasn't food.

He carefully picked up the Christmas card Tsuzuki had also placed in the pack, hoping for some... insight. He quietly scanned Tsuzuki's message and didn't even notice when one of the corners of his mouth turned up. It was so like Tsuzuki to do something like this! He placed the card back in the box, and picked up one of the 1000 paper birds, looking at it almost curiously.

_'1000 cranes are supposed to grant a wish.'_ Tsuzuki wrote _'I know you won't believe in it but I thought you could give it a try. Merry Christmas and thanks for understanding and being there for me when I needed it!'_(6)

The paper bird looked so frail in the hand of the Fire Shikigami and yet it was so carefully done! How much time had his foolish, sentimental master wasted to fold them all, naively believing in a childish superstition?

"You'll better keep him safe and happy," he ordered the paper crane almost seriously. "And get him back soon in GenSoKai. Which makes three wishes but since he likely wasted a lot of time folding you and your paper companions, that shouldn't be asking too much."

He put the paper bird back down. No, it wasn't that he believed in paper birds granting wishes. But since Tsuzuki had put so much effort into them he could at least give it a try. He sat on his bed wondering how strange it was that Tsuzuki could make him feel more warmth than his own flames just by sending him folded pieces of papers. Oh well, that was Tsuzuki for him. He lay down and slept, dreaming of a childish Shinigami who never forgot his Shikigami and, even when he was far away and already struggling with problems, who cared for them.

* * *

**_"I just called to say I love you  
I just called to say how much I care  
I just called to say I love you  
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart."  
(Stevie Wonder - "I Just Called To Say I Love You")_**

* * *

**JJ's Notes:**

1. I don't think Shikigami celebrate Christmas... but I see nothing wrong in Tsuzuki persuading his Shikigami into having a Christmas celebration... As for why Tsuzuki should spend Christmas in GenSoKai and not in the Shokan-Ka... well, why no? Beside in the **'Martial Art Tournament Chapter'** it's said Tsuzuki didn't spend the last of the year either with the other Shinigami... ok he could have been with Hisoka or working but...

2. In the **'Kyoto Chapter'** Manga Version Suzaku, in order to protect Tsuzuki, killed Mariko, a girl who had been transformed in a monster by Muraki. This caused Tsuzuki to turn insane. In this state Tsuzuki summoned SoRyu and it's implied he wanted to summon also Byakko and Genbu but collapsed before managing to do so and ended up kidnapped by Muraki. While he was in Muraki's _'care'_ he wake up again and summoned Touda planning to use him to burn Muraki and himself to death.

3. I can't understand which sex Taimo is! I made Taimo female, if you can prove me wrong please tell me!

4. I'm half sure Touda didn't like any of Tsuzuki's partners... and I think he liked even less Tatsumi since Tatsumi was the one who broke his partnership with Tsuzuki and likely in moment in which Tsuzuki was vulnerable.

5. It's an universally known fact that Tsuzuki's cooking skill is inexistent.

6. Somewhere I read folding a thousand cranes is suppose to grant one wish. A crane is a symbol of peace, happiness and eternal youth. I don't know if you can make a wish if you get the cranes from someone else but hey, this is fiction after all and I doubt it would work even if you do them.

**Extra notes:**  
This should have been completely different and way shorter... and it should have given a glance at Christmas in Meifu and at the GenSoKai Arc as well... Oh well, maybe next time.

**Dictionary:**  
**-chan:** Name ending used to express affection and familiarity or to talk with a child  
**-dono:** Name ending used to show respect, somewhere between '-san' and '-sama'  
**-sama:** "Lord" or "Lady"  
**-san:** "Mr." or "Mrs."  
**Akuma:** Demon  
**ChiJou:** Land of the Living  
**Enma:** "Demon of Darkness". Ruler of the Land of Dead  
**Enma-Cho:** "Office Enma". In the 5th district of JuOhCho. It's ruled by Enma himself and controls only Tokyo's territory. It hosts the Shokan-ka  
**GenSoKai:** "Illusory World". World in which the Shikigami reside  
**JuOhCho:** "Ten Kings Office". Meifu's bureaucratic organization ruled by Enma. It's in charge of judging the deceased in Japan  
**Kageshi:** "Shadow User". Tatsumi Seiichiro's ability  
**KouRyu:** "Golden Dragon". Highest class of dragons  
**KouTei KouRyu:** "Golden Emperor Golden Dragon". The highest authority in GenSoKai  
**Meifu:** Land of the Dead  
**Neesan:** "Older Sister" or "Older Girl"  
**Ningen:** Human  
**Oji:** "Uncle" or "Mister"  
**Ryuzoku:** "Dragon Race" or just "Dragon"  
**Sensei Jyutushi:** "Diviner" or "Astrologer". Rikugo's title  
**Shiki:** Short for 'Shikigami'  
**Shikigami:** "Ceremonial God". Summoned creatures with two forms (usually one is animal looking while the other is human looking) that live in GenSoKai  
**Shinigami:** "God of death" or "Death God". Nickname for the Shokan-ka workers  
**ShinSho:** Divine Commander  
**Shokan-Ka:** "Summoning Division". Division in Enma-Cho that deals with summoning the dead to appear at court. It enters in action only when the souls of the dead don't go spontaneously to Meifu  
**Tenku-Kyuu:** "Sky Palace". Tenku's title  
**YouKai:** "Monster ghost" or "Bewitching apparition"

* * *

Don't grumble silently, please let me know what you're thinking of this!  
Send me your comments!


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